Keep hotel Wi-Fi free everywhere

Wi-Fi is, without doubt, one of the coolest innovations ever. Not long ago, the idea of people wandering from room to room with a seamless connection to the Internet, or logging on for free in a local cafe, would have been fanciful. Now it's taken for granted.

But the fact that Wi-Fi is built on publicly owned spectrum has led to a number of groups trying to seize control.

In 2005, Boston Logan International Airport began blocking free Wi-Fi from VIP lounges and on-premise restaurants to force travelers to use its pay service. The Federal Communications Commission saw through the airport's specious argument that it was trying to prevent interference with airplane systems. Today, Logan provides free Wi-Fi.

Now it is the turn of hotels, whose lucrative Wi-Fi access business is being eroded by the cellphone. Yes, the same device that allowed guests to bypass expensive in-room phone service is now allowing them to avoid Wi-Fi charges. That's because today's devices can generate their own hotspots.

Most chains seemed resigned to letting their customers create hotspots. But some see a revenue source in providing expensive Wi-Fi access in large conference rooms, charging a flat fee covering all attendees that can run in the range of $1,000 per day.

Last year, the FCC fined Marriott International $600,000 for blocking Wi-Fi signals during a conference in Nashville. Now Marriott and the American Hotel and Lodging Association have petitioned the FCC for greater power to block such signals. (After receiving a torrent of complaints, Marriott said last week that it has decided to stop blocking Wi-Fi as it waits on the FCC.)

The hotels' argument — that such a move is necessary to protect cybersecurity and to thwart "rogue" hotspots — does not even have the patina of plausibility that airports had.

Wireless Fidelity is admittedly not the most secure form of communication. It is possible, for instance, that a malicious person could set up an "evil twin" hotspot with a name and home page similar to common ones and use it to acquire credit card information.

Nevertheless, that is no reason to block all hotspots. It's a reason to block one, and to call the police.

This filing is about one thing: money. Coffee shops and restaurants that offer free access as a lure to customers face the same security issues. And, remarkably, they are able to manage without asking the FCC to help them out.

What's most striking about the hotel effort is its chutzpah. People who buy land don't automatically take ownership of the oil and gas beneath it. And companies that own or manage buildings don't have rights over the signals that pass through them.

Yet the hotels seem to think that they should be granted such a right. They want the government to fundamentally alter one of its most successful programs so that they can maintain a captive audience that isn't so captive any more.

The FCC should not do so. Its job is to foster innovation, not stymie it.